


break me

by neednot



Category: The Fall (TV)
Genre: Angst and v light smut, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-01
Updated: 2016-05-01
Packaged: 2018-06-05 13:42:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6706603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neednot/pseuds/neednot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Reed kisses her hard, hard like she’s solid, like she’s not capable of breaking.<br/>(can’t break a woman who’s already broken.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	break me

_You have played,_  
_(I think)_  
_And broke the toys you were fondest of,_  
_And are a little tired now;_  
_Tired of things that break, and—_  
_Just tired._  
_So am I._

_-e. e. cummings_

Her room is quiet, her face to the wall, eyes open. 

She is tired but she can’t sleep.

She is tired of things that break. Hearts. Bodies. Minds, in some. Wills, in others. She is tired of being the one who feels broken. Of holding onto fragile things like hope and watching as they shatter in her hands. 

(Maybe she squeezed too tight.) 

She is tired of watching women she knows break. Of watching men break them. 

She is tired of men, period. God. Men are creatures who love to break things, who take pleasure from breaking things, wills, hearts, bodies. 

(Does it make her a man if she takes the same pleasure every once in awhile?) 

“Stella?” 

Reed’s voice is soft, and Stella rolls over and looks at her. 

(She didn’t mean to fall asleep here, in Reed’s bed. It’s not like anything happened, but she drove Reed home and it was late and she was so, so tired and Reed’s husband was away with the children, and—) 

_Things that break—like her heart, like her will._

Reed puts her hand on her shoulder, to comfort, and—

it shatters her. 

Stella always tries to hold herself together, keep all her pieces intact. But this case has unraveled her and no one has touched her in so, so long. 

“Stella.” 

She blinks. Realizes she was staring at Reed, at her hand, at her lips— 

Reed leans in first and kisses her. And it’s not like their kiss in the bar, there is no hesitation. Reed kisses her hard, hard like she’s solid, like she’s not capable of breaking. 

(can’t break a woman who’s already broken.) 

Stella pulls away, gasping, and Reed’s lips move to her throat and before she knows it she’s on her back and— 

and—

(Reed’s hands on her and then Reed’s fingers in her and and _and_ —) 

Her voice breaks and her will breaks and the floodgates break and she’s crying Reed’s name and— 

(can’t make something whole that wasn’t broken) 

Her fingers tangle in Reed’s hair and she pulls and Reed moans and she kisses her again and right here right now Stella isn’t a broken woman because Reed kisses her like she’ll never be capable of breaking again. 


End file.
